Spotted: Is this a falcon.... chinese badging...

[2011G6E]

Ford Taurus.
Looking at the US Ford website, they have tons of good features, would be a great replacement for the Falcon.
They do some crackers in the USA too...like the SHO AWD version with the 3.5 V6 365hp ecoBoost motor.

I'm still yet to be convinced exactly why people are so dismissive of a car just because it's FWD...and no, don't go on about "towing". Virtually no one buys Falcons or Commodores to tow big vans, horse floats, or big boats...they use four wheel drives and SUV's and twin cab utes. For people who don't really care about doing burnouts or getting the tail out...ie: 99% of new car buyers...they don't know or even care which end is doing the driving.

[superfly]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

I'm still yet to be convinced exactly why people are so dismissive of a car just because it's FWD...

I must be one of the rare ones as after I get rid of my XR50, I don't think I'll ever own a RWD car again. Up until the XR50, I'd only owned FWD and AWD cars in 24 years of driving.

I love the size of my XR50 but the unpredictability in the wet of RWD makes me want to go back to AWD or even FWD.

[Falcman0o7]

Looks alot more modern than the FGX.

[Whitey-AMG]

Looks like Taurus / Hyundai offspring.....
Old fashioned and try hard Korean prestige.

[fps_grandma]

Originally Posted by TRRTRY

Would chinese badging mean it would sell millions in melbourne? ??

Badging on my Australian Ford Falcon

[L]
XR6
[R]
TURBO

Badging on if I can read the Chinese (Changan Ford joint venture) Ford Taurus Titanium

[L]
Taurus
Titanium
[R]
长安福特 (Changan Ford)

It would be like badging an Australian Ford Falcon as:

[L]
XR6
Turbo
[R]
Ford Australia/NZ

Then there was
[L]
HOLDEN
[R]
SL TURBO

Chinese people mainly buy Japanese/German branded cars.
They generally steer clear of Commodores/Falcons unless:
1. They do not like the Toyota Camry/Aurion
2. They are cheapskates but still want a big cheap car (LPG Ford Falcon)
3. It's what's only available left at auctions or sales
4. They probably have a loving and understanding Anglo Aussie girlfriend/wife/partner
5. They just want to be different from everyone else

Originally Posted by Ford_The_Win

Large US style sedans are a big status symbol in China

Crikey you've deciphered one reason why I drive my personal Ford Falcon turbo taxi

But but we can't have crampboxes like kei-cars in Japan as America and Australia are large car countries.

Originally Posted by Ford_The_Win

branding

I'd stop there, I chose not to purchase on brand alone.

Originally Posted by MethodX

We keep being told the market for these cars has vanished.
would you guys buy one?

If I didn't want rear wheel drive then I might as well have bought a Mercedes-Benz CLA200 instead.

[Pepscobra]

Amazing how similar the FGX falcon and this Taurus look.
Why did Ford invest so much designing a new falcon when they could have just taken the Taurus blueprint and mirrored it for RHD?

[FPV GTHO]

They invested very little in FGX in comparison to what it would have cost to invest in 7th gen Taurus, and they still wouldve been left in the same position of building a car in a segment not enough people are buying.

[MethodX]

Release it with 8 badges all over it and chinese customers would buy it..
Good luck number.

Fusion 888?
Torino 888?
Mustang sedan 888?

Well you get the picture

[Keepleft]

Gee,
For the PRC market, it'll have to be sold with safety vest and triangle, and if I'm not mistaken for new market requirements - a rear fog.

[PepeLePew]

Originally Posted by MethodX

Release it with 8 badges all over it and chinese customers would buy it..
Good luck number.

Fusion 888?
Torino 888?
Mustang sedan 888?

Well you get the picture

Australian incentives: Stripes and badges
China: 888 and a can of baby formula

Would sell in droves

[tranquilized]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Ford Taurus.
Looking at the US Ford website, they have tons of good features, would be a great replacement for the Falcon.
They do some crackers in the USA too...like the SHO AWD version with the 3.5 V6 365hp ecoBoost motor.

I'm still yet to be convinced exactly why people are so dismissive of a car just because it's FWD...and no, don't go on about "towing". Virtually no one buys Falcons or Commodores to tow big vans, horse floats, or big boats...they use four wheel drives and SUV's and twin cab utes. For people who don't really care about doing burnouts or getting the tail out...ie: 99% of new car buyers...they don't know or even care which end is doing the driving.

But who would buy it? No one buys the Falcon now except for the performance models, and performance models (large, muscle-type ones at least) are far better with RWD.

The SHO AWD Taurus is no doubt a good car, but quite different to what buyers of Aussie performance sedans are used to. The Taurus is bigger outside, smaller inside, (from what I understand of the current model at least) heavier (thanks to the AWD) yet still nose heavy with a transversely mounted engine which rules out a V8 and providing an understeer biased chassis setup with positively anti-sporting proportions with it's massive front overhang and short dash to axle ratio. So while it may outperform the current Falcons when it comes to raw numbers, (does it? not sure) the driving experience would be quite different (as in, worse) mainly because it isn't RWD.

There are a lot of reasons many people insist on RWD and it has nothing to do with towing or burnouts.

**edit** I do completely agree however that the vast majority of car buyers have no knowledge or interest in which wheels are doing the driving.

[malazn mafia]

Originally Posted by PepeLePew

Australian incentives: Stripes and badges
China: 888 and a can of baby formula

Would sell in droves

In chinese , 8 means prosperity and good luck , while 4 means death and bad luck. Technically shouldn't the Taurus for China be a V8, sporting an 8 Speed Auto. Nothing beats 8 cylinders of good luck thumping away under the hood.

[Shonky.]

that's where the FGX got its busted *** face from

poor Falcon, what a way for an Aussie icon to go out

[Mercury Bullet]

Ahh, but you can always put a paper bag over her face... :P

[PepeLePew]

Originally Posted by Shonky.

that's where the FGX got its busted *** face from

poor Falcon, what a way for an Aussie icon to go out

It's fortunate that at least with the Sprints most stock vehicles will only see the taillights, which is a pretty attractive butt in most books. ;)

[Shonky.]

Butt is Taurus too

[Ford17]

Originally Posted by Shonky.

that's where the FGX got its busted *** face from

poor Falcon, what a way for an Aussie icon to go out

FG-X G6E's and G6ET's seem to look fantastic though.

[bernbo]

I like mine better. At least the exhaust tip is connected to the exhaust.

[GTLEGEND]

Originally Posted by Mercury Bullet

Ahh, but you can always put a paper bag over her face... :P

You don't look at the mantle piece while your stoking the fire...... think about it!

[zilo]

database crash

[Ford17]

Originally Posted by bernbo

image

I like mine better. At least the exhaust tip is connected to the exhaust.

Looks fantastic!

[bernbo]

Here is some more shots, cause it does look cool and it's interesting to see the similarities between the two. Proportions i think are better in the falcon, the taurus looks pudgy while the falcon looks wider and lower.